Recommended 1E house rule compliations?

[Delta]

Here's my short "Fix-Up" house rules that I just posted this week:
http://www.superdan.net/download/ADDFixUp.doc

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Hey, I always meant to tell you that I like your encumbrance rules using stone, Delta. They're simple and make encumbrance easy to calculate, and they have the right flavor, too. Bravo Zulu.

 

[Mythmere1]

When going back to 1e, the key thing is to simplify it into a system you understand fairly well. The 1e rules are scattered, vague, and sometimes contradictory. OSRIC is (as intended) good for putting them into one place and into logical order. What OSRIC lacks is the dark, naughty, and wry feel of the ACTUAL 1e rulebooks. But I'd still begin with OSRIC, just because of the difficulty of assimilating the 1e rules in one gulp.

That has nothing to do with house rules, which was the actual question.

I would keep them to a minimum, except:
1) clarify for your group when an attack from behind gets the +2.
2) clarify what happens when a missile weapon is fired into melee (the 1e rules say that you roll randomly to determine the target, many people prefer to handle this with a chance of hitting others after a miss, or by just assigning a negative modifier to the to hit roll).
3) clarify what it means when a thief is "checking for traps," and what happens when a remove traps roll fails. How much does the thief's player have to tell you about what he's doing to make the roll -- or, alternatively, can anyone disarm an obvious trap by telling you what they do to disarm it.

OSRIC, IIRC, gives house rules for these. But there are actually several different "right" answers to these areas. Definitely skip weapon speed factors and such - the advice to "play it like everyone actually played it" is sound advice.

 

[RFisher]

My goal is to give the missus a taste of "how it used to be."

In my experience then, you need this:

• Moldvay Basic rulebook
• AD&D (1e) MM
• AD&D (1e) DM screen
• AD&D (1e) PHB
• AD&D (1e) module or B2 (optional)

As DM, you read the Moldvay book. You basically run it as if it were a Basic game, except using the combat/save matrices from the AD&D DM screen and the monsters from the MM. And the players create PCs with the AD&D PHB.

In my experience, this is how nigh every 1e game I played in was run. Occasionally a rules-lawyer would break-out the DMG to argue an obscure rules point. We should’ve blue-bolted me...er, I mean, them...when that happened.

(OK. The magic-item tables, spells for 1st level MUs, random encounter charts, and a few other select things from the DMG would see use.)

 

[RFisher]

Part of the game is just accepting that things are balanced differently, and not always in ways that make logical sense.

Or...you could assume that there was logic behind it and take the time to try to figure out what it was.

 

[RFisher]

Hey P.J., do you know of a more simplified initiative system, in contrast to ADDICT? The more smoothly I can make that run without flipping through pages of clarifications, the happier I'll be.

• The players declare their actions. In particular, spell casters declare whether and what spell they are casting.
• Each side rolls 1d6. Highest roll acts first. Ties are simultaneous.
• (Within a side, the order individuals take their turns is up to that side.)
• If a caster takes damage or is forced to make a save before his turn, his spell is spoiled and lost.
• Simultaneous means that, even if you die, you still get your action.

Sometimes I might play it where a spoiled spell isn’t lost, and casters may not have to declare the specific spell.

This is based off classic D&D, but it works fine for AD&D. Using weapon speeds and casting time to resolve ties is an easy addition.

I've also played with skipping the declaration. In this case, spell casting starts on a caster’s turn but doesn’t finish (and the spell doesn’t take effect) until just before the caster’s turn on the next round. Taking damage or making a save while casting will spoil the spell.

I could’ve sworn I had how Gygax said (in one of his Q&A threads here) he handled initiative in oAD&D, but I can’t seem to find it.

 

[Tewligan]

Or...you could assume that there was logic behind it and take the time to try to figure out what it was.

I think maybe you misunderstand me. When I say "logic", I mean logic that would apply to the real world - i.e., "realistically", thieves should be able to dodge some things better than others, a magic-user should be able to pick up and swing a sword (albeit badly), etc. There certainly is logic in the system as far as making sure the parts of the system work and are balanced together - I'm calling that "balance" rather than "logic". I have taken the time to try to figure out the system, thanks - I'm just saying that mechanics logic =/= "real world" logic.

 

[RFisher]

I think maybe you misunderstand me. When I say "logic", I mean logic that would apply to the real world - i.e., "realistically", thieves should be able to dodge some things better than others, a magic-user should be able to pick up and swing a sword (albeit badly), etc. There certainly is logic in the system as far as making sure the parts of the system work and are balanced together - I'm calling that "balance" rather than "logic". I have taken the time to try to figure out the system, thanks - I'm just saying that mechanics logic =/= "real world" logic.

I see what you’re saying.

Although—personally—the older I get, the more I learn that things I thought would be true by real-world logic often are not. (^_^)

 

[Tewligan]

I see what you’re saying.

Although—personally—the older I get, the more I learn that things I thought would be true by real-world logic often are not. (^_^)

Ah, fair 'nuff. Oh, and I think I had a hint of snark in my last line - sorry 'bout that! Workday irritation leaking through, y' understand!

 

[SuStel]

5) Unconscious at 0 hp, dead at -10.

Yeah; that's by-the-book, innit?

It's not that simple. The rule (p. 82) works as follows.

If you reach exactly 0 hit points, you're only unconscious, and dying. (You lose 1 hit point per round after that until you reach −10 hit points and really die, or until someone spends a round tending to you, in which case you stop losing hit points, but stay at whatever total you currently have. In any case, anyone knocked unconscious will be in a coma for 1–6 turns, and must then spend at least one week bedridden before they can start moving around again, even if magic heals them to positive hit points before the week is up.

If the blow that knocks you unconscious takes you to less than 0 hit points (not the subsequent bleeding damage, just the actual blow), you die right away. However, the DM may optionally allow that blow to take the character down to −3 hit points (but no lower) without immediate death; go to the bleeding rules, above, instead.

If hit points reach −6 or lower, for whatever reason, scarring or dismemberment may have occurred, at the DM's option, depending on the sort of damage was taken to take out the character.